DECATUR, Ill., Dec. 7.—Two 16-year-old boys arrested on a charge of stealing brass from the Wabash railroad have been sentenced to play baseball by Judge J.H. McCoy. The judge gave the boys a lecture on honesty and fairness and asked them if they played baseball. Both admitted they did. “I sentence you to continue playing baseball,” said Judge McCoy, “and learn well the lessons of fairness taught by that game.”

Because of the years it covers, the ballot for the Modern Era Committee could be pretty packed next year. It’s early, but here’s one possible ballot, assuming the Hall keeps it to 10 candidates and continues its trend of only having it be half-filled with players:

That leads to the question of whether National League teams would bid on Encarnacion despite the fact he has never played 100 games at first base in any one year. As one rival executive noted, however, Encarnacion can hold his own when he takes the field.

“There’s a lot of mediocre first basemen,” the person said. “He wasn’t a clunker over there.”

With interest from teams in both leagues, Encarnacion’s camp appears to be waiting for a motivated team to sweeten an offer. That approach ...

When Thursday’s Rule 5 draft begins, it will have a major league phase and a minor league phase, but for the first time that minor league phase will not be divided between Triple-A and Double-A.

That division dates back to the beginning of the Rule 5 draft, back to 1903 when it was logically just known as the draft. After all, the first first-year player draft was still 62 years away. Back then, with major league teams prohibited from “farming out” players to the minors, the draft was ...

The Rays made a surprising strike to land a potential major impact player, agreeing late Tuesday on a two-year deal with All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos, who will be sidelined until midseason while recovering from major right knee surgery.

The deal, for a guaranteed $12.5 million with another $5.75 million in incentives, is pending a physical and won’t be finalized for a few days.

Ramos, 29, is not expected to play in the majors until June or July as the former National had surgery Oct. 14 to ...

“We have a good left-handed hitting prospect in Chance Sisco,’’ Duquette said. “A lot of clubs would like to have Chance Sisco and we’re glad we have him. I’m not sure he’s going to be ready to start the season. We have some other depth behind him, but I would like to see us add another catcher to our club ... another veteran catcher.”

Though Duquette seemed to leave open the possibility that Sisco might be ready at some point next season, that seems unlikely, and he said later that a two-year ...

The Red Sox will also send highly touted pitching prospect Michael Kopech, outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe and right-hander Victor Diaz to Chicago. Moncada is the top-ranked prospect in the game, according to MLBPipeline.com. The deal marks the first time in at least 25 years that baseball’s No. 1 prospect has been traded, based on the rankings done by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.ine and Baseball America.

Derek Jeter’s No. 2 is being retired, the last of the New York Yankees’ single digits. The Yankees said Tuesday the number will be retired on May 14 before a Mother’s Day game against Houston, and a plaque in his honor will be unveiled in Monument Park during the ceremony.

Jeter’s number is the 21st retired by the team. He won five World Series titles and was a 14-time All-Star during a 20-season career that ended in 2014 and he is sixth in career hits with 3,465. Jeter set ...

Wherever Dozier ends up, he’s not going to be the strongest player in the lineup. But he may just be the hitter who has learned how to maximise the power he does have more efficiently than most others. It’s good to hit the ball in the air. It’s a lot better to find the parts of the park that are much more conducive to the distance you have. That’s how Dozier become a slugger—and that’s why he’s so valuable.

Tonight’s episode of Comedy Central’s Drunk History is going to look at one of the more infamous promotions in MLB history. Disco Demolition Night at the old Comiskey Park in Chicago happened on July 12, 1979 and was the brainchild of DJ Steve Dahl and the Chicago White Sox’s promotions director Mike Veeck. It happened in between the doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers when a bunch of disco records were blown up on the field.

Through October, $1.0 billion was bet on baseball at Nevada’s regulated sportsbooks, an all-time record, according to gaming control, and nearly double the amount that was bet in 2010. By comparison, $1.6 billion was bet on football (NFL and college) in 2015.

At a time when more money is being bet on baseball than ever before, Major League Baseball is taking a new approach to how it keeps track of the betting on its games.

Though it isn’t known exactly where the team stands, the New York Yankees remain focused on bringing back closer Aroldis Chapman, with ex-Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen their primary backup plan.

While Chapman is reportedly looking for a six-year deal, the Yankees won’t go that far; they are, however, prepared to give Chapman a deal in the range of five years and $80 million, which would break the record for relievers just set by Mark Melancon, who received a four-year, $62 million deal from ...

While the most obvious approach might be to hit the free-agent market for a dependable reliever, the club also is exploring two primary trade routes, according to industry sources.

One involves trading Jay Bruce or Curtis Granderson — a source confirmed reports Monday the Mets have interest in Orioles reliever Brad Brach — and the other centers on using “second-tier” prospects such as Gavin Cecchini and Brandon Nimmo for bullpen help.

Rules governing the world’s series soon will be revised by the National Commission, backed by the rival major leagues. Several important suggestions will be considered. They include a reduction of admission fees, an increase of the games to nine instead of seven, a curtailment of the players’ share of the money and a plan to give a cash bonus to every player in each circuit, tailenders to receive the smallest sums.

General manager Jeff Bridich said the Rockies are considering the heavy price tag for free-agent first basemen Mark Trumbo and Edwin Encarnacion. Additionally, multiple Major League sources said there have been preliminary talks about White Sox slugger Jose Abreu as the Rockies attempt to boost run production at the position.